Esprit
by Saria Forest14
Summary: A story of murder, past scandal, and heavy secrets, the small town of Kinta keeps enough behind its closed doors to haunt anyone's past. Namely, the one who started it all by simply being different.


**/Esprit/**

"Kenji! What happened to all the paper plates we bought at the supply store?" A mature womanly voice called out through the empty fish n chips restaurant towards the kitchen. Almost all the lights had been turned off, but the late night moon shown through the large windows to keep most everything visible; only the lights in the kitchen were on.

A voice came from there, Kenji's. "Come on Kikyou, you said we'd deal with those tomorrow!" He called back, complaint in his tone.

The woman Kikyou made her way in-between the tables, the blue and white checkered table clothes swapping against her gray pencil skirt annoyingly. She sighed quietly to herself from her own irritation and exhaustion from the long day's work.

"I'm not sure we'll have enough _time_ to set them out tomorrow. We only have two more days to prepare before the reunion, and hardly anything has gone as planned." She explained, somewhat complaining herself.

Kenji finally made his way to the doorway of the kitchen, looking tired but sympathetic. "Wasn't I the one who told you taking on this whole project practically on your own was a bad idea? Not my fault you don't know what you're doing." He teased, clearly trying to lighten the mood but failing.

Kikyou looked up at him, a good few inches taller than she, with agitated blue eyes. "This is hardly the time for 'I told you so' Kenji."

He merely chuckled. "I know you're stressed, but we really need to call it a night. It's already—" He glanced up at the clock hanging by the front doors, "holy shit, 11 o' clock?"

"This is supposed to make me feel better?" Kikyou droned out blankly.

Kenji looked back down at her. "It's supposed to convince you to go home and get some _sleep_. We've done all we can today, and you know it. Quit being stubborn."

Kikyou gave her friend a thoughtful stare, before breaking eye contact with a defeated sigh. "Alright, I concede my argument. I'll head home."

"For the love of god, _thank you_. I'll start locking up." He said giving her an overdramatic hug and fast walking back to the kitchen.

Kikyou just rolled her eyes at his childish behavior and turned around toward the door. "I'm leaving then!" She called out before exiting the building with a call of goodbye from Kenji echoing behind her.

Once outside she took a moment to glance up at the clear night sky and the brilliant shine of the half-moon above her. She took a deep breath to help clear away some stress. The dull yellowed light that shone in front of the door flickered a bit, and Kikyou snapped back to reality and continued walking to the parking lot.

Getting into her run down 1990 Toyota Corolla and starting it up, she turned the radio off with an amused smile. _'Kagome and her obsession with music.' _

Her half-sister Kagome was certainly an outspoken cheerful person, completely opposite from Kikyou herself despite being only a few years apart and looking almost identical. It was a wonder she and Kenji had gotten along so well even in the beginning. _'Ten years of friendship will do that for a person I suppose.'_ She mulled over wisely, driving along the quiet open road.

Even from inside the car she could hear the faint noise of crickets from beyond the darkness. It was always deadly silent this time of night, the rather long drive back home giving Kikyou a chance to revel in it. It was something she didn't mind, but also slightly disliked, due to her upbringing.

She'd initially come to the town of Kinta freshman year after her mother had died, getting word about relation to Kagome shortly before hand. It had been different, adjusting form city life to that of the slow paced and wide open countryside, but in the end she'd grown used to it.

As the minutes went by she found herself thinking about work again, her latest project. The high school reunion. Kikyou couldn't believe it had been eight years since graduation. Time simply flew. She was sure her classmates had changed at least a little in that span of time. She certainly had. Back in the day she had been rather shallow and flirtatious. She knew it was learned habit from how her life had been, and was glad such a part of her was faded now. Kikyou found herself wondering what her many exs would think of her if any of them came to the event. One that particularly stood out in her mind was a silver haired boy she'd dated senior year. What had been his name?

Thought was cut short as her phone rang in her coat pocket. The caller ID read: Kagome.

She flipped it open and answered. "Yes?"

"Oh good you're there!" The upbeat tone of her sister rang through the line. "I hate to ask but could you grab some cereal on your way home? I gotta get up early tomorrow to help out and we don't have anything else fast to make."

Kikyou nodded before realizing she need to make an audible answer. Wow was she tired. "Alright I will. I suppose I'm heading that way anyhow."

"Great! Thanks a lot Kikyou. See ya."

"'Bye."

Distracted with hanging up, Kikyou had hardly any time to react to the oncoming car that sped her way, the only warning being the overly bright headlights and the screech of tires.

The impact was sudden, and violent.

Kikyou heard glass break and the airbags activate, her car smashing in on itself and getting pushed back from the force. She blacked out instantly.

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N: **I have no idea what I'm doing, LOL. This was a story I promised my best friend I'd finish—a year ago, and I saw this in my stuff and figured 'what the hell, let's add more crap onto my work load' xD I should be doing more updating soon starting the 22nd. That's when I'm out of school for the summer.

If anything, I'm shocked Kikyou was my opening character for this o.o NO idea how that happened.


End file.
